Happy Birthday Rose to Roses!

Hello everyone, today is a spectacular day! Today marks the anniversary for Rose to Roses! Happy First Birthday Rose to Roses, it's certainly been an incredible year!

Where shall I begin, geez I feel like I am writing an acceptance speech letter for the Oscars. "For starters, I'de like to thank the Academy...." haha. Seriously, it blows my mind to think that exactly one year ago I put my words into actions. I have always loved writing and found it as my personal method of detoxing. It's so therapeutic to just grab a paper or computer and start writing about anything. I remember wanting to start a blog and thinking, "What if nobody reads it?", "What will people think of it?","Gosh I'm really putting myself out there with the world", "Ugh this is stupid, I shouldn't." But then I just wrote and wrote and finally worked up the courage to show my friend some of my pieces. She loved it and told me to be bold and to forget about what people would say, "Of course they will talk, but let your words speak louder." I can remember that night so vividly. I was in my dorm room and my roommate stayed up with me all night bouncing back ideas and helping me bring my vision of Rose to Roses into reality.

I am so grateful that I decided to embark on this journey. Rose to Roses is my personal journal that I have decided to make public. A place where I can inspire, and be inspired by all of my readers and my audience. Rose to Roses is place where I can create a community and follow along your story with the hashtag that I created #wandercreates! I love being able to interact with my readers! A place where I can just write my big ol' heart away and talk about things that are dear to my heart, share my travel logs, and my passion for fashion and beauty. If only one person reads my blog and my words and thoughts inspire them, then this is so worth it!

Year ONE of blogging was crazy. Of course it had it's struggles, thoughts about giving up, disappointment, comparison and writers block. Man oh man, the good outweighs the bad and rough times to another level of obliteration. I have had some of the most amazing opportunities in this first year. Opportunities that I could've only dreamed about! I have had the opportunity to work with insane companies that I never thought I would have the chance to. I have met so many incredible individuals all because of social media and my blog. Never underestimate the power of social media, it is a wonderful thing. Who knew that this little girl who started a blog in her dorm room would be celebrating a year of blogging with so much to look back on. Let's be honest here, I would call you crazy if a year ago you would tell me that I would have a following of 34.5 K people on one social media outlet alone. INSANE, NUTS, LOCO. That means that many people clicked on a button and made a choice to follow me. (Yep that was me being super transparent) The thought of that just blows my mind. I am so humbled, blessed, and oh so thankful for the privilege to share my words. I am so humbled and thankful to have worked with amazing companies and to have met great people. Alright here comes the acceptance speech....

I really want to thank first and foremost, you guys! Every single human that had ever laid eyes and read my blog. My readers and my audience mean the world to me. Like I mentioned before, If anything that I have ever shared has inspired at least one person then all of this is worth it. I also want to thank my family for their support even though they get annoyed when I stop to take pictures, so much so that they walk away, haha. A HUGE thank you to my friends that have helped me in one way or another by helping me when I needed advice, for giving me feedback, and for TAKING MY PICTURES! Hallelujah, the Lord provides gentle, patient souls who care and love me so much that they are willing to take pictures of me! Thank you friends, you know who you are, I truly can't do this without you. Thank you for believing in me and helping Rose to Roses become a dream come true. I literally CANNOT wait for what is to come for Rose to Roses! Year one you've been a dream! Year TWO let's do this thing!